The asparagus have been outstanding lately, and tonight was no exception -- the tips were marinated in olive oil, lemon juice and nama shoyu and dehydrated for about an hour at 105F. The rest of the asparagus stalks were sliced on the bias, very thinly, and marinated as well with olive oil, lemon juice and nama shoyu, but not dehydrated. They were sprinkled on the salad at the very end.

You've seen the eggplant ravioli before, but I finally remembered to take a shot of the mandoline -- mind the blades!

Eggplant Ravioli

1 small globe eggplant, peeledsea salt

Peel the eggplant and slice into 1/8" thick rounds on the mandoline -- the top half has less seeds, but is usually smaller in diameter -- about 1 inch down from the top is the sweet spot...

You'll need about 16 pieces at the eggplant, but a couple extra pieces for back-up isn't a bad idea. This will only use about 2-3 inches of the eggplant, so you might want to think about a second recipe and using it in the next day or so.

Salt the eggplant for about 30 minutes to break down the cell walls. Rinse the salt off of the eggplant, pat dry, and place it in a large non-reactive dish in a single layer if possible (overlapping slightly is fine).

Whisk together all of the ingredients and pour over the eggplant. We like to put a smaller non-reactive dish on top to weigh it down slightly. Marinate for 1 hour, flipping the eggplant over half way through.

While the eggplant is marinating, add all of the ingredients into the vita-mix and pulse until the walnuts have broken down into very small pieces and have begun to stick together. Check the seasoning and try to not eat all of the filling at this moment. ;)

assembly

Remove the eggplant slices and pat dry. Lay an eggplant round in front of you and add about 1-2 tsp. of the filling in the center, being careful to not overfill. Fold the top of the eggplant over the filling and press down firmly on the edges to seal the ravioli.

Add the ravioli to the dehydrator tray and process about 6-7 hours at 105F -- flipping about halfway through. The edges should be crisp, but the filling moist inside...

Soak the nuts in water for an hour. Drain and add to the vita mix with the garlic and lemon juice. Add just enough water to process the nuts until they're very smooth. Check for salt. Put the sauce in a a squeeze bottle and add to the ravioli.

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

I've been jonesin' for panini, so we cranked out some eggplant parmesan and added some tomato sauce, basil and Teese along with our trusty cast-iron grill pan and got to work...

Soy margarine is spread on the bread and the Eggplant Parmesan pieces are placed on top in the grill pan.

Add the tomato sauce (not too much as it will ooze out).

Add some basil.

Add the Teese.

Add the top piece of bread, and place a second cast-iron pan on top of the bread to weigh it down (there were two other panini in the pan added later, not shown). Rotate 90° degrees halfway through the cooking, flip and repeat.

The basic concept is to take your own home made seitan (but not pounding it out as thin), and cut it into roughly 3/4" wide x 1/2" thick x 4" long strips, coat with cornstarch and deep-fry for 4-5 minutes. Then slowly braise the seitan in a mixture of shallot, garlic, ginger, brown sugar, sherry, veg stock, black vinegar, tamari. The end result was a fantastic explosion of flavor and texture that was as close to take-out food as we have ever made at home. Pair it with a big unfiltered Zinfandel for the full effect...

The baby bok choy were split in half, rinsed, and steamed for 10 minutes. Then they were pan-fried in canola oil until starting to show some color. At the end they were splashed with a with a little tamari and toasted sesame oil, plated and topped with sesame seeds.

Saturday, April 26, 2008

While surfing through the channels last week, we came upon Rachael Ray. I gather she's much like the British Empire, the sun never sets on RR on TV -- somewhere one of her shows or commercials are on. She was making a batch of asparagus which had been blanched, marinated and wrapped in prosciutto, which was then cooked on a grill pan.

Adapted from a Wolfgang Puck recipe, just sub tofu for the fish, and pour all of the marinade over the tofu in the roasting pan (he did it in the episode, but not in the recipe) and cook for a little longer (about 15-17 minutes) until the top of the tofu starts to show some darker color.

My daughter was very happy to see the lotus root, it's (surprisingly) one of her favorite foods. Go figure ;)

Put all the ingredients (except the olive oil) into the vita-mix and puree. Slowly drizzle enough olive oil (depends on how juicy the tomatoes are) until creamy. Check for seasoning, and it should be pretty spicy.

For assembly: Place the arrabbiata sauce in a small bowl. Spiral cut the zucchini into long strands. Twirl the pasta around with a small fork, and dip into the sauce. Turn the fork to coat with the sauce -- it's best to turn it along the edge of the bowl as this helps pull extra sauce off.

Using a wooden spoon, stir together the flour and salt in a mixing bowl. Slowly pour in the boiling water while stirring constantly. Cover the bowl and set it aside until the dough is cool enough to knead, about 10 minutes.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until it's smooth and elastic, about five minutes. Shape the dough into a ball. Lightly oil a bowl with peanut oil. Place the dough in the bowl, turning to coat the top with oil. Cover again and allow to rest for 30 minutes.

Lightly flour the work surface. With a rolling pin, roll out the dough to a 10" x 16" rectangle, approximately 1/4" thick. Brush the entire surface with sesame oil, the sprinkle the chopped scallions over the area.

Starting on the left side, roll the dough into a thick, even cylinder 10" long. Cut into six equal slices. With the rolling pin, roll each slice of dough into a pancake 1/4" thick, 6" - 8" in diameter. Cover each pancake as finished to prevent drying out.

Heat peanut oil to 375F and deep-fry for 30 seconds per side, drain on paper towels. Cut into wedges and serve warm.

Step 01: The tofu was smoked with apple wood for 25 minutes, then pan-fried with canola oil, finally splashed with a little tamari for 30 seconds at the end of cooking. You could bake it or prepare it any way you'd like...

The phyllo is one sheet, laid out with the long side on the top/bottom, then folded in half like a book. The tofu is placed about 4-5" from the bottom of the sheet.

Step 02: Add the wilted spinach (olive oil, garlic, tamari, pepper).

Step 03: Add the sauteed mushrooms (with tamari and pepper).

Step 04: Fold the bottom flap over the tofu and brush the new area with olive oil.

Step 05: Fold the left and right sides in, also brushing with olive oil

Step 06: Roll the tofu over, brushing the exposed areas of the phyllo as you go

Step 07: Place on a sheet pan, bake for 8-10 minutes at 400F until golden brown.

Step 08: For the sauce, we used the same pan we fried the mushrooms in -- over medium heat, add 1 tbs. olive oil and 1/4 cup shallots, and sauté for 2-3 minutes, add 1 tsp. of minced garlic and sauté for one more minute. Next, add 1 tbs. flour, making a roux -- cook until light brown (2-3 minutes).

Finally whisk in 1 cup of veg stock* and 1 tbs. tamari and scrape all of the mushroom fond off the bottom of the pan and cook until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.

Thursday, April 17, 2008

The artichoke dip is one we've adapted over the years, based on a recipe from Great Lakes Brewing in Cleveland -- you can re-arrange it depending on what you have on hand -- and tonight that was: artichoke hearts, yellow bell peppers, jalapeno, vegenaise, nutritional yeast, salt and pepper. It's baked in an au gratin dish at 400F for 20 minutes.

There are few things as sublime as springtime asparagus... the taste, the crunch, the color.... tonight they were prepared by blanching in boiling, salted water for about 5 minutes (these were pretty thick), and quickly plunging them into ice cold water to set the color. Just before service, melt a little soy margarine in a pan, add the asparagus and season with salt and pepper.

Saturday, April 12, 2008

A recipe for Hezbollah Tofu from the Les Halles cookbook by Tony Bourdain.

This dish starts with the veggies -- leeks, carrots and turnips shown here with a bouquet garni (bay, parsley, thyme). In the original recipe, they're cooked along with the meat, but here we skipped that step, and braised them with water, salt and pepper, soy margarine along with some veg stock.

Put all of the vegetable in a large pan that will fit in your oven. Add the veg stock and enough water to come up halfway on the leeks. Add the bouquet garni and soy margarine. Add salt and pepper to taste. Over high heat, bring the water to a boil, place the lid on the pot slightly ajar, and cook for about 20 minutes until the liquid has almost evaporated. Take the lid off, and place in the oven while you make the seitan.

As always, you can make your own seitan for this, but in this instance, we used the packaged type and sliced thinly in long strips. It was quickly stir-fried in a wok with canola oil.

On the plate, place the seitan in the center and position the vegetables around it. Pour some of the leftover broth from the pan around the seitan and veggies. Serve with sea salt, cornichons, mustard.

Bechamel Sauce with Horseradish (p. 254 of the Les Halles cookbook)

The bechamel sauce with horseradish is straight ahead, just whisk in as much horseradish as you like into the bechamel along with the salt, white pepper and nutmeg. We used about 2 tbs. for the 2 cups of sauce. For serving, we loaded the sauce into a squeeze bottle and let everyone decorate as they liked.

Melt the soy margarine over medium heat. Add the flour and stir with a wooden spoon to combine with the soy margarine. Reduce the heat and cook for a few minutes, but don't allow the flour-soy margarine mixture to take on any color. Slowly add the soy milk to the roux with a whisk and mix until smooth. Season with the salt and white pepper and add the nutmeg and the horseradish. Heat on low until the sauce is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.

(we're of the school of hot roux/cold liquid or cold roux/hot liquid. Chef Bourdain is apparently from the hot liquid/hot roux school. YMMV)

For this recipe, we used the leftover trimmings from the Seitan Gascon, cut into chunks and marinated overnight, then sauteed the next day -- we cut down on the soy because the seitan cooking method already contained tamari.

Place the cubed seitan in a bowl, add the ginger, garlic and soy sauce/tamari. Cover and refrigerate overnight (or at least 2-3 hours).

Remove the seitan from the marinade and pat dry. Season lightly with salt/pepper (go easy on the salt because the soy sauce/tamari will compensate). In a saute pan over high heat add 1 tbs. canola oil and cook the seitan until it is nicely browned on all sides. You made need to do this in batches. Set aside on a plate.

Off heat, stir in the wine, return the pan to high heat, scraping the bottom with a wooden spoon. Cook until the pan is almost dry, then add the stock and soy and reduce by half. Add the remaining ginger, sliced garlic and cook for 30 seconds, then whisk in the remaining soy margarine. Return the seitan to the pan and cook for about a minute. Sprinkle in the chopped parsley and remove from the heat.

Place the mesclun in a large mixing bowl and add the shallot. Season with salt and pepper and add the red wine vinaigrette (below). Toss well and arrange the salad in the center of a serving platter. Arrange the seitan around the salad and drizzle with the sauce. Serve immediately.

In a mixing bowl, combine the vinegar, garlic and salt and pepper to taste. Let sit 30 minutes , the remove and discard the garlic. Add the mustard and slowly whisk in the oil, continuing to whisk until the mixture is emulsified.

In a large pan or wok, heat the oil to medium and (carefully) add the rinsed spinach with tongs (watch the splatter). Continually turn the spinach until it begins to wilt. Add the pepper. When the spinach has released most of its liquid, add the tamari and toss to incorporate. Set aside on a plate.

In the same pan, add the additional olive oil and saute the mushrooms for 6-8 minutes until they too have given up most of their liquid. Add the tamari and pepper and toss to incorporate for 1 minute. Set aside on a separate plate.

In the same pan as the mushrooms and spinach, add the additional olive oil and saute the onions. Season with salt, pepper, smoked paprika and herbs and cook until golden. Add the garlic and cook for an additional minute. Add the tomatoes, breaking them up as best as you can (a potato masher works wonders here). Bring the sauce to a boil and then simmer for 10-12 minutes, until thickened. Check for seasoning.

While the tomato sauce is simmering, you can make the ricotta. In a large bowl, crumble the tofu with your fingers into small pieces. Add the parsely, nooch, soy sour creme, pine nuts, salt and pepper. Mix (with your hands) to incorporate -- you can bust out the immersion blender and/or just chuck the whole thing in the vita mix and puree. It should be fairly thick, but spreadable.

In a 9x9 oven-proof pan, spread 2 tbs. of tomato sauce on the bottom of pan. Lay four lasagna noodles side by side over the sauce. Add about half of the teese/mushrooms/spinach/ricotta/tomato sauce in whatever order you like. Add another four lasagna noodles perpendicular to the first layer and add the remaining of the teese/mushrooms/spinach/ricotta/tomato sauce. Add the final four lasagna noodles and top with a little bit of the tomato sauce and Teese if you have any left.

Bake at 350F for 30-35 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool for at least 10 minutes before trying to cut. With a serrated knife, cut the lasagna into nine 3"x3" squares.

And as you can tell from the bottom left corner, the teese does, in fact, melt quite well, even at a lower temp...

Soak the pumpkin and sunflower seeds for 30 minutes, drain and add the rest of the ingredients in the vita-mix and puree until well blended. You made need a little extra water, but the consistency should be fairly spreadable. Check for seasoning. Spoon the puree into the red peppers and smooth the tops with a rubber spatula or the back of the spoon. Dehydrate for 8 hours at 105F. Serve topped with Mole Sauce (below).

Grind the dry ingredients, add to the peppers, agave and nama shoyu and puree in a vita-mix. Check for seasoning. Pour over the rellenos and serve.

The spring produce is starting roll in (ramps!) -- so we grabbed this local lettuce that was so soft you could use it as a pillow. Macadamia Nacho Cheese (from Ani Phyo) with jalapeno, shallot and cherry tomatoes.

Tuesday, April 08, 2008

We made two versions of Onglet Gascon for Hezbollah Tofu (in the Les Halles Cookbook, p. 127) -- and we actually went out and purchased a meat mallet to help pound out the seitan, which worked frighteningly well... who knew? ;)

The seitan recipe is the same as before, with a few modifications -- we only boiled it for 15 minutes and pressure cooked it for 15 minutes, due to the fact that we were able to pound the seitan out thin enough with the aforementioned meat mallet. A word of caution however -- make sure you have nothing of value nearby when you begin to pound on the seitan as liquid will spray everywhere. Better than animal blood, though!

I should point out that it does work better with plastic wrap on top or in a zip-lock gallon or freezer bag with the thick plastic -- the description above was going more for humor than actual cooking instruction ;)

If you grill it, pat the seitan dry, brush a little tamari on top -- it'll take about 2 1/2 to 3 minutes per 90° turn for the nice grill marks. For pan frying, add enough soy margarine to coat the bottom of the pan, and don't crowd the seitan pieces together as they'll just steam and not get the sear you're looking for.

If you've pan-fried the seitan, remove it and add the wine, scrape down the fond and reduce by half. If you've grilled the seitan (as we have here), in a small sauce pan, add the wine and reduce by half. Then add the dark veg stock and reduce by half again. Whisk in the soy margarine (monte au beurre). Off heat, whisk in the mustard and adjust the seasonings. Slather on top of the seitan and serve with the Steak Frites as we did on Sunday.

The steak frites recipe is actually vegan, so there isn't any adjustments to make here.

Steak Frites

4 Idaho potatoes2 quarts peanut oil for deep-fryingsalt

Once you have your potatoes peeled and cut into 1/2" thick frites (a french fry cutter works wonders here), drop them in cold water for at least 30 minutes. Rinse them well to get rid of the excess starch.

In a wok or large pot (with a thermometer) heat the peanut oil to 280F. It may seem like a great deal of oil, but the reason there's so much oil is because the temperature stays stable when you add the potatoes -- it doesn't drop 100° and take forever to get back to where it needs to be. Fry the potatoes for 6-8 minutes until they are soft and have turned opaque. Remove with a skimmer or spider and let rest for 15 minutes on a sheet pan.

Crank the oil up to 375F and drop in the fries for 2-3 minutes. Remove and drop into a large bowl that been lined with a (paper) towel. Add salt to taste, take the towel out and toss. Serve hot.

The green beans are trimmed and blanched in salted water for four minutes. Drain, and drop into a bowl of ice water to keep the color. Wipe out the pan, turn the heat to medium-low and add a little soy margarine. Put the green beans in along with salt and pepper to taste. Heat through to coat and serve...

Thursday, April 03, 2008

The tofu was cut into six pieces (rather than the usual eight), and we cut a small slit across the side of it. It was then smoked with alder wood for 25 minutes. The tofu was stuffed with a mixture of roasted garlic, a single basil leaf, and a tiny bit of Sheese Mozzarella -- which, in an effort to use it up, we also (gently) smoked, which greatly improved the flavor profile. In a sense, the Sheese's lack of melting action actually worked in its favor here allowing it to withstand the heat of smoker box, making it softer/smokier...

The tofu was pan-fried in canola oil until golden brown, then splashed with a tablespoon of tamari and cooked for an additional minute per side. Served over gobetti pasta along with homemade tomato sauce.

We had made the sprouted buckwheat shells a couple of weeks ago in anticipation of this meal. With raw foods, it's never to early to plan ahead! ;)

The broccoli, mushroom (broken down into less than 1/2" pieces), garlic and shallot were tossed with a little olive oil and nama shoyu and dehydrated for about 45 minutes. That was mixed the cashew cheese and stuffed into the shells and dehydrated for 8 hours at 105F. Finally topped with the cherry tomatoes.

The soup is one our faves from RAWvolution -- daikon are juiced, mixed with water, lemon juice and salt -- filled with spiral sliced zucchini and parsley.

3. Links to recipes are shown when available, if there's no link, we'll try to cite the book/magazine issue from where it came. If there's no recipe cited, it usually means we made it up... and if there's nothing at all, enjoy the pretty pictures. ;)

4. We don't like ersatz food (i.e. tofu molded into the shape of a turkey for Thanksgiving), but we're funny that way.

5. A brief personal history. We were vegetarian for 7 years, and have been vegan for the last 20 years.